Professor argues GRE hurts STEM, women and minorities

From wire reports

July 24th, 2014

USF professor argues character more important for admissions, equity

Graduate schools would do better to relax their over-reliance on a popular test score when it comes to admissions and instead try to judge the character of potential students, a University of South Florida professor argues.

The Graduate Record Examinations, a standardized test developed more than 60 years ago and a requirement at most U.S. grad schools, is not a good predictor of a student’s ultimate success, and is the primary barrier holding back women and minority students, said Casey Miller, a professor of physics at USF and co-author of “A Test that Fails,” published last month in the journal Nature.

“What we’re saying is, ‘Don’t misuse this tool,’ ” said Miller. “What people hear is not that, it’s, ‘We should get rid of standards.’ We’re not saying that. The point is that the GRE is not a predictor of success. And that should be understood, and it’s not.”